Nadolski ready to shut down sweepstakes businesses

By Michael D. Abernethy / Times-News

Published: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 06:17 PM.

In May, Burlington City Council members upped the fee they charge for gaming machines to $2,500 for the first terminal at a café and $1,000 for each additional one. Previously, business owners were charged $25 for every four terminals.

After months of legal uncertainty, Alamance County law enforcement will begin shutting down Internet sweepstakes businesses this week.

Alamance County District Attorney Pat Nadolski announced Tuesday that his office would begin prosecuting violations of a state law banning the sweepstakes. The General Assembly passed the law in 2010, but it was tied up in court battles. The N.C. Supreme Court upheld the statute in December and it officially went into effect in early January.

Nadolski notified law enforcement agencies Tuesday of the decision to begin prosecuting violations of the law.

“Each agency has begun the process of informing video gambling establishments and sweepstakes operators in their respective jurisdictions that enforcement will begin immediately,” a release from the district attorney’s office said.

Municipal police departments were expected to begin notifying Internet sweepstakes businesses of the enforcement on Wednesday.

Burlington Police Assistant Chief Chris Verdeck said officers would deliver written notices to the businesses beginning Wednesday. Businesses would be directed to shut down immediately, he said, and that future violations would be investigated. Verdeck said those investigations could take time and effort to complete and even include undercover operations if necessary.

Alamance County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Randy Jones said the sheriff’s department would follow the same procedures for any sweepstakes businesses in the county, but that he expected deputies would play a support role to municipal police investigations.

“Most of those businesses are within city limits,” Jones said.

Though some other counties began enforcing the law earlier this year, Nadolski had previously said he was waiting for more concrete answers regarding the law’s enforcement before prosecuting sweepstakes businesses.

Some of the murkiness surrounding enforcement arose from sweepstakes computer programming companies changing their software to allegedly operate within state law. District attorneys throughout the state said they were awaiting clearer instruction from N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper before enforcing the Internet sweepstakes ban.

Nadolski said he conferred with the N.C. Attorney General’s Office before announcing his office’s intent to prosecute violators of the law.

In December, the state Supreme Court ruled on two cases in which amusement machine and other companies sought to overturn the 2010 law banning video sweepstakes machines as a form of gambling. Sweepstakes halls cropped up in what justices called a perceived loophole since the state outlawed video poker machines in 2007.

Even before the state’s highest court upheld the ban, local governments were scrutinizing Internet sweepstakes parlors here.

In August, the Graham City Council imposed much stricter guidelines on new Internet sweepstakes businesses looking to move to town — including restrictions on how closely they can open to everything from schools to parks, plus raising business license fees.

In May, Burlington City Council members upped the fee they charge for gaming machines to $2,500 for the first terminal at a café and $1,000 for each additional one. Previously, business owners were charged $25 for every four terminals.